Newsletter

Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News Savannah State guard Preston Blackman shoots a basket during a recent home game at Tiger Arena.

With calmness and composure — that’s how you should approach March Madness.

Savannah State coach Horace Broadnax watched his players compete in last season’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament without these necessary ingredients for postseason play.

And despite winning the regular season, the results were predictable. The Tigers lost their first game and made a quick exit from their first-ever MEAC tournament.

“At the end of the day, the tournament is what everyone is playing for,” Broadnax said. “I think last year we weren’t ready for it.”

This season, SSU tied for third in the 13-team MEAC and will enter the tournament today against Maryland Eastern Shore as a No. 4 seed.

Tip-off is 6:30 p.m. at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va.

The 13th-seeded Savannah State women play at 11 a.m. against South Carolina State.

The men’s and women’s tournament winners earn the conference’s automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.

Unlike last year — and despite losing three of the last four games to end the regular season — the SSU men appear focused for the conference tournament, Broadnax says.

“I think we’ve been challenged and had a little more adversity during January and February than we had last year,” he said. “I think the guys have been pressing internally to do better. The key is making the extra pass and being patient.”

The Tigers (18-13) returned five senior starters from a squad that won the MEAC regular-season title and advanced to the NIT last season. They were picked to finish first in the conference in a preseason voting of league coaches.

But SSU has missed the outside shooting of Deric Rudolph, who was academically ineligible. Offense has often been a struggle. SSU averages 56.3 points a game, ranking 338th among 345 Division I schools.

The defense has been consistent. The Tigers rank seventh in Division I in scoring defense, allowing just 55.3 points a game. They are fifth in 3-point defense (28.3 percent), eighth in steals (9.4 a game) and 28th in field-goal defense (38.9 percent).

“As long as we have another opportunity in college’s third season, we’re excited,” SSU senior point guard Preston Blackman said. “Where we (are seeded) doesn’t matter. It’s all about who wants it more. I think we learned that about the tournament last year.

“We have to play hard, play together. Teamwork is what will get us to where we want to go.”

SSU women

The Tigers’ promising season took an abrupt turn when high-scoring point guard Ezinne Kalu (13.4 ppg.; 19.0 ppg. in two conference games) suffered a season-ending knee injury at midseason.

Since the loss of Kalu, SSU has dropped seven in a row and 16 of 18 games, stumbling down to the 13th and last seed.

The Tigers might be optimistic about their draw. They won only two conference games this season, but split with South Carolina State — falling 75-54 on Jan 26 in Orangeburg, S.C., before winning in 49-46 in Savannah two weeks later.

Senior guard/forward Erin Hogue has had a solid season, averaging 11.7 points and 9.9 rebounds a game with 12 double-doubles this season.

Sophomore guard Jasmine Norman has averaged 13.3 points her last four games.